Approval of voting devices clears way for election

The state’s top election official approved the use of two previously banned voting devices in Los Angeles County on Thursday, a decision that allows next month’s presidential primary to proceed as scheduled.

After months of uncertainty over the largest county election operation in the nation, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen recertified a privately manufactured polling booth for disabled and non-English-speaking voters.

However, she said the county’s InkaVote Plus audio voting machines could be used in the Feb. 5 primary only after tough technical and physical security measures were put in place. Ballot readers, which allow all voters to check the accuracy of their ballots -- but do not count votes -- are also subject to the security requirements, she said.

The InkaVote Plus system “does have some significant vulnerabilities,” said Nicole Winger, spokeswoman for Bowen. “But Secretary Bowen also recognizes that there is not yet a perfect voting system for voters with disabilities in the United States.”

Bowen, who outlined 35 requirements in Thursday’s announcement, has stirred controversy by imposing some of the strictest regulations on electronic voting in the nation.

The system used by most Los Angeles County voters, an ink marker and paper ballot, was never in question, county election officials said. However, the mainframe computer that optically scans and tallies those paper ballots must also comply with security conditions, which Bowen is expected to release in the next few days.

“The recertification . . . was critical in getting us back into compliance for 2008,” said Dean Logan, acting L.A. County registrar-recorder. “From a timing standpoint, it’s a huge relief.” The first absentee ballots are to be mailed to voters Monday.

Los Angeles County’s 4 million registered voters are the only in the state to use the “arcane” system, Winger said.

A spokesman for Omaha-based Election Systems & Software, which manufactures the county’s voting system, said the company is reviewing the new conditions. “The equipment and the voting technology has been proven to work,” said spokesman Ken Fields.

Last summer, Bowen declared three electronic voting systems used by two-thirds of California counties vulnerable to hacking after a panel of experts infiltrated the systems. Local voting officials criticized the findings as unrealistic, saying the experiments didn’t include real-world safeguards against vote-tampering.

Bowen later recertified the machines after imposing stringent security guidelines and requiring 100% manual recounts for certain electronic voting devices.

Election Systems & Software did not submit equipment in time for Bowen’s review. She recently approved the use of the company’s machines in five other counties, including Marin and San Francisco, if officials apply additional safeguards.

The decertification earlier this year of voting machines used throughout the state was cited as a reason for the retirement of longtime L.A. County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack. McCormack said she was tired of fighting Bowen and other state officials over the future of electronic voting machines. McCormack took a lead role in criticizing Bowen’s moves but was also condemned by those who said she was too cozy with the electronic voting companies.

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susannah.rosenblatt @latimes.com

Times staff writer Hector Becerra contributed to this report.